The 2011 FA Cup final was the 130th final of the FA Cup, the world's oldest domestic football cup competition. The final took place on 14 May 2011 at Wembley Stadium in London in front of 88,643 spectators and a British television audience of more than eight million. The clubs contesting the final were Premier League clubs Manchester City and Stoke City. The match was Stoke City's first FA Cup final, and Manchester City's ninth.

As Premier League clubs, they entered the competition in the third round. Manchester City made an unconvincing start, contesting two replays against lower league opposition in the third and fourth rounds but gained momentum and kept three consecutive clean sheets en route to the final. Stoke City played one replay in the third round, before beating all opponents in a run which culminated in a 5–0 victory over Bolton Wanderers in the semi-final at Wembley Stadium – the biggest winning margin at Wembley since 1939. Manchester City entered the final as favourites, with Stoke City as underdogs.

Manchester City began the match the brighter of the two teams with the majority of possession and a number of shots forcing saves from goalkeeper Thomas Sørensen but the first half remained goalless. Stoke improved after the half-time interval but failed to score from their only shot on target in the 62nd minute, which was saved by goalkeeper Joe Hart after a one-on-one with striker Kenwyne Jones. In the 74th minute, Manchester City midfielder, Yaya Touré fired a loose ball in the Stoke City penalty area past goalkeeper Sørensen to give Manchester City the lead. Stoke attempted to equalise after Manchester City's goal without success and the final finished 1–0 with Manchester City claiming their fifth FA Cup. The result gave Manchester City their first major trophy for 35 years, ending the longest trophy drought in the club's history. Stoke City manager Tony Pulis said "Manchester City were the better team and deserved to win", but expressed "disappointment" at his team's display. Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini dedicated the victory to the Manchester City supporters, declaring, "I am happy for the fans, they deserved to win this Cup. For a long time they didn't win."

The medals were handed out by Prime Minister David Cameron. As winners, Manchester City won a place in the 2011 FA Community Shield and the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League but as they had already qualified for the UEFA Champions League via their league position, the Europa League place was given to Stoke City as runners-up. To celebrate their victory, Manchester City held an open-top bus parade on 23 May 2011, beginning at Manchester Town Hall and ending at the City of Manchester Stadium; it attracted a crowd of up to 100,000.

As a Premier League team, Manchester City entered the competition in the third round. Their opening match was an away draw at Leicester City. Following a supporter campaign, Manchester City dedicated the match to former striker Neil Young, who was terminally ill. Young scored the winning goal when Manchester City and Leicester City met in the 1969 FA Cup Final. Manchester City fell behind after 46 seconds when Sol Bamba scored for Leicester following a corner. Manchester City took the lead by half-time through James Milner and Carlos Tevez, but Andy King equalised midway through the second half to make the score 2–2. The tie was replayed at the City of Manchester Stadium the following week. Tevez gave Manchester City the lead after quarter of an hour, but the lead was brief. Four minutes later, Paul Gallagher's penalty levelled the score, after Patrick Vieira had fouled Lloyd Dyer. Before half-time, two Manchester City goals in 90 seconds shifted the momentum of the match. In the second half, Tevez missed a penalty and a goal by Dyer made the score 3–2. Leicester then pushed for an equaliser, but instead Aleksandar Kolarov scored on a counter-attack to make the final score 4–2.

For the fourth round Manchester City were drawn against League One Notts County at Meadow Lane. On a pitch described by the BBC as "pudding-like", lower division County threatened an upset when Neal Bishop scored from a corner in the 59th minute. However, ten minutes from time Micah Richards crossed for Edin Džeko to score his first Manchester City goal, ensuring a replay at the City of Manchester Stadium. Notts County started the rematch brightly, but faded as the game progressed. The score remained 0–0 for most of the first half, but Vieira scored either side of half-time to give Manchester City a two-goal lead. From that point, the match proved less even, and Manchester City scored three more goals for a 5–0 win. From there on, City kept consecutive clean sheets on the way to winning the cup. Manchester City's fifth-round match was against Aston Villa at the City of Manchester Stadium. Villa manager Gérard Houllier rested several senior players, in contrast to a near full-strength Manchester City line-up. Manchester City took the lead after less than five minutes through Yaya Touré, and further goals from Mario Balotelli and David Silva resulted in a comfortable 3–0 win.

In the sixth round, Manchester City were again at home, and faced Reading, the only non-Premier League team left in the competition. Micah Richards scored the only goal, a header from a corner in the 73rd minute. In the semi-final, at Wembley Stadium, City defeated rivals Manchester United 1–0 with a Yaya Touré goal, and continued their FA Cup semi-final record of nine victories out of 11, reaching the FA Cup Final for the first time since 1981.

Stoke, also a Premier League side, entered the competition at the third round stage, where they were drawn at home to Welsh side Cardiff City. Stoke City made seven changes to the team that played their previous match. Michael Chopra gave Cardiff an early lead, but Stoke's Tuncay Şanlı levelled the score just before half time. Stoke had a number of chances in the later stages of the match, but Cardiff held out for a replay. In the replay at the Cardiff City Stadium Stoke again used several reserves, changing all but one of the players from the previous league match. Few chances occurred during the game; the score was 0–0 after 90 minutes, prompting extra time. In the added period, Jonathan Walters scored twice to secure a 2–0 Stoke City win; the first goal was a header from a corner, the second a near-post rebound. Stoke City then travelled to fellow Midlands team Wolverhampton Wanderers for the fourth round, in one of five all-Premier League ties. Stoke defender Robert Huth was a central figure in the match. Ten minutes from time he gave Stoke a 1–0 lead with a header from a free-kick, but in the final minute he conceded a penalty for tripping Nenad Milijaš. Milijaš took the spot-kick himself, but his effort was saved by Thomas Sørensen.